In view of recent trends towards miniaturization, increase in density, and improvement in properties of electronic parts that incorporate heat-generating elements and are intended for use in electronic devices, methods of transmitting and dissipating heat from such elements become an important issue. Heretofore, it has been known to fill the space between the aforementioned heat-generating elements and heat-radiating fins or a similar metal chassis with a molded body of a thermoconductive rubber filled with a large amount of alumina or a similar thermoconductive inorganic powder. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (hereinafter JP Kokai) S56-2349 describes a molded rubber article for heat dissipation.
Since such a molded rubber article is not tacky and has a high hardness of about 54 to 73 measured by a Type A durometer according to JIS K6253, it cannot be easily fixed between a heat-generating element and heat-radiating fins, or a similar metal chassis, and, therefore, assembling of such units is associated with difficulties. Fixation of the unit in an assembled state requires the use of screws and bolt, and this creates problems in case of disassembling and repair. With regard to plasma display panels that recently have found use in personal computers, TV sets, etc., it was proposed to place a grooved heat-radiating adhesive sheet between the plasma display and the heat-generating sheet (see JP Kokai 2001-11402). An adhesive agent mentioned in the above application is a silicone-type adhesive agent, but the adhesive connection between the plasma display and the heat-radiating sheet is permanent, and the unit cannot be disassembled for repair or discarding without breaking it apart, which is inconvenient.